


Reckless Behavior

by Reis_Asher



Series: Reasons For Being [4]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Depression, Established Relationship, Hannor, M/M, Post-Game, Therapy, Violence, connor is persistent, connor protects hank, hank's suicidal tendencies, hankcon - Freeform, i'm running out of dumb tags to use for these guys, off-page sex, police work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 01:48:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15109286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reis_Asher/pseuds/Reis_Asher
Summary: The second night of Hank and Connor's stakeout doesn't go to plan due to Hank's reckless behavior. With a failed investigation and two dead suspects all they have to show for months of work, Connor is determined to broach the subject of therapy to Hank, but Hank is stubborn...





	Reckless Behavior

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here's the latest part of Reasons For Being. Please leave comments and kudos, both have been coming in a little slower lately. Maybe people are losing interest in the game? :( I'm still very obsessed with it (started Playthrough #5 today) so if you're still reading, please let me know.
> 
> This series is almost done, I'm thinking one more part unless other ideas strike me for it. I have another series I want to start and of course I need to get back to Break The Walls Down because we all need some fluff in our lives, but the angst always lures me in.

The second night of the stakeout started out better than the first. Connor was almost certain Hank had scared himself with his latest suicide attempt, as he'd only had two beers today. Connor had spotted Hank’s baleful glance at his gun as he strapped the holster to his hip in preparation for the stakeout.

Hank seemed quiet, but it was a companionable silence as Connor scanned the area for any heat signatures. He placed his hand on Hank’s arm as his sensors outlined a figure running towards the abandoned house.

“You see something, Connor?” Hank asked, squinting in a vain attempt to see what Connor was picking up.

“Someone entered the building,” Connor explained. “Another car just pulled up. They’re here.”

“Oh boy, here we go,” Hank said. “Here was I, hoping we’d get to stop by the drive-thru again and have a repeat of last night.” They’d made love slowly, Hank seeming extra gentle as if he might hurt or break Connor somehow. Connor hadn’t wanted to remind Hank that he didn’t feel pain. The tenderness they’d shared had been intimate on a whole new level.

Two gunshots sounded like fireworks from the direction of the abandoned house. Hank opened the car door and Connor followed, calling for backup via his internal systems.

“Lieutenant, wait!” Connor yelled. “We should wait for backup!”

“If we lose these perps then months of work goes down the drain,” Hank growled. He pulled out his gun, ducking down behind a broken fence. Connor followed suit, his pistol in hand.

Without warning, Hank jumped the low fence and darted towards the building. Connor’s sensors detected the yellow outline of a person standing in the doorway. Hank wouldn’t be able to pick him out from the shadows.

“Hank!” Connor vaulted the fence and pushed Hank down to the porch just as the man fired his gun. The shot hit Connor in the back as he went down, and his only thought in that moment was for Hank pinned beneath him. He didn’t need the warnings flashing before his vision to know it was bad. With Hank shielded beneath his body, he raised his gun and fired, taking out the human suspect with one perfectly accurate shot to the head. The man slumped as red blood splattered across the porch.

“Connor. Connor!” Hank sat up and pulled Connor into his arms.

“I’m okay, Hank,” Connor lied. He reached up to cup Hank’s face in his hands as his sensors began a countdown to total shutdown. His thirium pump regulator was damaged, and he was losing blue blood at a rapid rate. Hank's shirt and jacket were already soaked with it, but all Connor could find inside himself was relief that there was no red blood mixed with it. Hank was safe. 

Mission complete, though not in the way he'd intended.

“Okay? Like hell you are!” Hank yelled. The backup units arrived and Hank flagged them down. “I need spare parts and blue blood right now!”

“Hank...” Connor muttered. "Don't… leave.”

“I’m here,” Hank soothed. “I love you, Connor. I’ll never leave you.”

“Listen...” Connor managed. “One of the suspects was an android. If they’re still inside...”

Hank nodded, setting Connor down to lay on the porch. He grabbed his gun and leapt up, charging into the abandoned house with no seeming concern for his own safety. Connor held his hands over his injury, trying to stem the bleeding with as much pressure as he could apply, but thirium seemed to leak through his fingers at every opportunity. The EMT returned with a bottle of blue blood and raised it to Connor’s lips while he tried to stem the bleeding. Connor drank greedily, but he knew without the pump regulator, he was done for. Low power mode would only last so long.

Hank emerged from the building, hands covered in blue blood. He held a freshly plucked pump regulator in his hands. “Suspect was already dead,” he confirmed. “This what you need?”

Connor scanned the part and noted with relief that it was compatible. “Yes. Hurry...”

Hank moved the EMT out of the way and knelt by Connor’s side. He tore Connor’s shirt open and opened the panel on his torso, pulling out the old, shattered regulator and inserting the new one. Connor’s systems stabilized at once and he was able to take his over his own surgery from Hank’s shaking hands. Connor reached inside the panel and found the severed thirium line that was causing all the bleeding. He held it together until the EMT could melt the tubing back in place and the bleeding stopped. Connor replaced his front panel and sat up. Hank clung to him as the EMT backed away.

“I thought I was gonna lose you, Connor. I fucked up. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Connor said, chugging the rest of the thirium bottle until his systems fully stabilized.

“It’s not okay. If I’d bothered to file the paperwork myself, I would have known one of the suspects was an android. Only I was too busy wallowing in self-pity to help with the reports we should have worked on together. You almost died because of me.” Hank closed his eyes, seemingly aware that other people were watching them. “He probably heard me at the edge of the yard. I shouldn’t have charged in alone like that.” He stood up, his jeans and shirt soaked with Connor's blood. His voice was tight and thin. “I gotta get out of here, Connor.”

Connor stood up and guided Hank to the car, aware of the eyes on them both. Their little scene had confirmed the rumors that had been flying around the department for some time now; that Hank Anderson and his android partner Connor were lovers.

***

“We can’t work together any more.” Hank put his gun down on the kitchen table like it might bite him. Connor watched helplessly as Hank stripped off his streaked shirt. The thirium was already starting to turn invisible to the human eye, though Connor could detect the large stain across the front of the fabric with his sensors. 

"Hank, ignore the rumors. It's normal to care about your partner. Nobody can prove anything," Connor reassured him.

“It's not about that. You took a bullet for me. I can’t let that happen ever again. This isn’t the deviant investigation any more. You can’t just come back if I fuck up.” Hank leaned on the back of a kitchen chair for support. “Maybe it’s time I handed in my badge and gun, Connor.”

“What would happen to me then?” Connor asked. “I’d end up with Gavin as my partner. I can assure you he won’t hesitate to throw me in the line of fire if it suits him. Hank, I don’t care if you sometimes make mistakes. There’s nobody else I’d rather have watching my back.”

“You almost died today!” Hank yelled, his voice hoarse and tired.

“So did you. I calculated the odds and I had a greater probability of surviving the shot.” Actually, he’d done no such thing. Connor had simply acted on his feelings when he’d realized Hank was in mortal danger. He didn’t like lying to Hank, but a little white lie to spare his feelings seemed like a good idea. Being human seemed like the wrong choice for a change.

“I fucked up the investigation. Months of work went down the drain because I was reckless.” Hank slumped down on the couch, opening a beer. “You deserve a better partner.”

“I have the best. This investigation was doomed from the moment the suspects started shooting at each other,” Connor pointed out. “I want you to stay, Hank. I like being your partner.”

“Fowler might not let us stay together.”

“Captain Fowler already knows about us, I’m certain of it,” Connor said. “If he wanted to break us up, he’d have done it by now. But we’re good at our job, Hank. One mistake doesn’t change that.”

“We failed and all I can think about is how grateful I am that you’re alive,” Hank confessed. “Millions of dollars of red ice slipped through our fingers and I’m euphoric that you’re still here with me. People will die and yet I’m _happy_.”

“Then be happy,” Connor pulled Hank close to him, his lips brushing Hank's in a gentle kiss. Hank kissed back but there was something urgent and needy just beneath the surface.

“Connor, I need you. Help me forget that you almost died today,” Hank whispered. “I close my eyes and I see all that blue blood. I can’t get rid of the image of you dying in my arms...”

“I’m still alive, Hank.” Connor rested his chest against Hank’s ear, so he could hear his thirium pump beating. “See?”

“Connor, you’re so beautiful,” Hank whispered. He pulled his head away, tracing lines down Connor’s chest, as if he could overwrite his dark memories with the reality of now, with Connor alive and whole, here in front of him. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Words melted away as they fell together, too overwhelmed to talk in any language but that of their bodies entwining as one. Connor stood up and led them to the bedroom. 

He was all too happy to make Hank forget.

***

Later, as they lay in bed coming down, Hank let out a long, heavy sigh. “Connor.”

“What is it, Hank?” Connor traced lazy lines down Hank’s back, admiring his skin.

“When I went inside that house to get the pump... I was glad the android was dead. I would have ripped its regulator out to give to you no matter what.” Hank buried his face in the pillows. “I would have done anything to save you, Connor. Anything. Even take the life of a living being. It scared me.”

“It’s okay, Hank.”

“No. It’s _not_ okay. It’s not something I want you to justify. It would have been murder.” Hank rolled into his back and looked up at the ceiling. “I couldn’t stand the thought of losing someone I loved all over again. That’s why I’m asking myself if I should still be a cop.”

“You're good at what you do,” Connor argued. "Detroit can't afford to lose you."

“How can you hear me say what I just said and still think I’m a good cop?”

“You care. Otherwise you wouldn’t be struggling with this. Most people wouldn’t think twice about taking an android’s life, even now.” Connor lay his head on Hank’s stomach. “We’re so close, but we’re not there yet. Killing an android still isn’t classified as a crime. You could have ripped that regulator out and walked away. I did much worse during the deviant investigation.”

“I still think about our deviant cases,” Hank mused. “Carlos Ortiz’s android in particular. That guy was abused for so long. He shouldn’t have died in his cell like a dog. No, worse than a dog. We were on the wrong side of history, and I can’t just forget about that. Except, today, I did. You were in danger and suddenly nothing else mattered.”

“Maybe that’s part of acceptance,” Connor said. “You no longer saw the line between human and android. You would have done anything to save me. You were willing to die for me, even kill for me. An android.”

“You know my life doesn’t matter much to me any more.”

“It matters to me,” Connor said. He planted a kiss on Hank’s stomach. “Please don’t quit, Hank. You need the force, and the force needs you. _I_ need you.”

Hank smiled. “Okay. Just, no more throwing yourself in the line of fire for me, huh?”

“Only if you promise the same, Lieutenant. No more rushing into danger. No more trying to commit suicide at work.”

“Connor, I…" Connor knew he’d struck a nerve. “I wasn’t, I—I guess I was, wasn’t I?”

“Promise me,” Connor insisted.

“I can’t promise there’ll never be a time when I lay my life down in the line of duty for you, Connor, but I’ll try not to be so reckless in future.”

“Hank.” Connor piped up. “Maybe you should consider seeing a therapist. Someone with professional training. Human or android—whatever makes you comfortable—"

“No.” Hank cut him off. “I don’t need a shrink getting inside my head and telling me how to feel. I’m not going to pay for someone to listen and pretend they give a fuck about me. Let me handle this my own way, Connor.”

“All right.” Connor pulled Hank close to him and listened to his heart beat. He could table the discussion for now, but he would return to the subject. He’d predicted Hank would be stubborn, but persistence was one of Connor’s better qualities and he was going to get Hank some help whether he liked it or not.

Connor listened to Hank’s breathing even out as he fell asleep. They were still alive. It was a small victory, but Connor would take what he could get. He opened the Hank file in his mission database and added therapy to his objectives. Convincing Hank it was a good idea would take time, but he would work on Hank slowly until he relented. He always gave in eventually. Connor had a little time to play with until the next time danger came knocking—the Morgan investigation was over, and they'd probably get a little reprieve before the next high-stakes mission came along.

Connor knew he couldn't wait too long, though. He thought of the bullet hole in the refrigerator and how close Hank had come to giving up his job. He had to intervene before it was too late and Hank did something he couldn’t take back.

If taking a bullet hadn't been enough to convince Hank to get help, though, what could Connor possibly do to save the man he loved from self-destructing?


End file.
